Different seats shouldn't mean different sides.
Parents and educators can walk into an IEP meeting wanting the same thing for a child and still walk out feeling like they were never on the same team. A phone call didn't happen. A concern wasn't said out loud. A parent didn't know what to ask, or a teacher didn't know how to explain what they were seeing. Somewhere along the way, communication broke down.
IEP meetings come with paperwork, acronyms, procedures, and plenty of opinions about what should happen next. In the middle of it all is a child who isn't usually in the room.
In Same Table, Different Seats, special education advocate Melinda Taylor brings a rare perspective to the conversation. She has sat at the IEP table as a teacher, a parent, and an advocate. Drawing on lessons learned from every seat, she shows parents and educators how to replace defensiveness and frustration with clearer communication, stronger advocacy, and genuine collaboration.
This book will help you:
- Speak up early and clearly so concerns can be addressed before frustration becomes crisis.
- Confidently prepare for and participate in IEP meetings so your questions, observations, and concerns become part of the conversation.
- Understand what the person across the table may be carrying so disagreement doesn't have to turn parents and educators into adversaries.
- Build communication that continues after the meeting so the IEP becomes more than a document and better supports the child it was written for.
Good advocacy doesn't require parents and educators to agree on everything. They can disagree, ask hard questions, and hold one another accountable without losing sight of the child they're there to serve. Same Table, Different Seats shows what can happen when both sides are willing to keep the conversation going.
The next meeting can be different. Start with the conversation.
Melinda Taylor is the founder of Melinda Taylor LLC, where she helps families navigate the special education system, specializing in IEP development/meetings, parental training, educator presentations, and the parent-teacher communication that determines whether a child's plan actually works. She enjoys reading, singing, watching her children do what they love, and going to escape rooms with her husband. Contact at: www.melindatayloriep.com
